Recent Commentaries

Featured image for “This is Not Who We Are – Part 2”
This is Not Who We Are – Part 2
This is what passes for civil discourse in the current House Judiciary Committee. Ohio representative and House Freedom Caucus founder, Jim Jordan (R), accused Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein of hiding information and documents requested by the committee regarding the FBI’s Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation. Rosenstein politely but firmly responded, “I’m not trying to hide anything.” Rosenstein and FBI Director...
Read More
June 29, 2018
Featured image for “This is Not Who We Are”
This is Not Who We Are
Twelve days ago (June 15), I wrote “Without standards of courtesy, civility and decency, everyone is free to engage in a bickering brawl of incivility that only continues the cycle.” Last week confirmed that we are officially in the brawl. Most Americans are good, decent, honest people. They’re respectful and courteous. If they make a mistake, they usually make amends....
Read More
June 27, 2018
Featured image for “Truth, Trust and the Media”
Truth, Trust and the Media
Approximately 20 minutes into a one-on-one conversation with PBS NewsHour anchor Judy Woodruff last month, CBS 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl revealed something that Donald Trump told her in a pre-interview conversation. “At one point,” Stahl said, “he started to attack the press, and I said, ‘You know, that is getting tired. Why are you doing this? … You’ve won...
Read More
June 25, 2018
Featured image for “Gentleman Tom”
Gentleman Tom
How do you handle an emergency? What do you if you’re in the middle of a stage performance, medical staff are treating an audience member who has fallen ill, and the audience may be getting a little restless? If you’re Tom Hanks, performing as the redoubtable rogue Sir John Falstaff in Henry IV, you grab your rapier wit and assault...
Read More
June 22, 2018
Featured image for “Chaos Du Jour”
Chaos Du Jour
Every week some new Trump controversy sucks the oxygen out of the news cycle, and humanity. Even TIME magazine can’t keep up. This week’s cover story on the Kim-Trump summit… sorry TIME, old news! Every time we think Trump hits a low point, he invents a new one. Remember last summer’s Charlottesville? “You had a group on one side that...
Read More
June 20, 2018
Featured image for “What We Need”
What We Need
In January 1969, I was roaming around a local bookstore. My second year in college and I had to select a non-fiction book to read and write a report for a history class. History… what book am I going to find that’ll maintain my interest? I couldn’t finish reading the flyleaf of most history books much less think of writing...
Read More
June 18, 2018
Featured image for “Let’s <em>Be</em> the Change”
Let’s Be the Change
Last Sunday’s Tony Awards show was debased by displays of indecency and disrespect. Actor Robert De Niro walked on stage to introduce Bruce Springsteen, but the first words out of his mouth were, “I’m going to say one thing: F#$k Trump!” The disrespect quickly followed when much of the 6,000-seat audience at Radio City Music Hall stood and cheered De...
Read More
June 15, 2018
Featured image for ““Peace in Our Time””
“Peace in Our Time”
Apologies for the note of cynicism, but at the press conference held shortly after President Trump signed a piece of paper proclaiming, “a message of peace,” I couldn’t help but be reminded of another piece of paper and message. After meeting with Adolph Hitler, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain arrived back in England on September 30, 1938 and proclaimed: “This morning,...
Read More
June 13, 2018
Featured image for “The Insider”
The Insider
Today, the news cycle is likely to be consumed by the summit meeting between President Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jung-un. To regular visitors to this site, you might be surprised to hear me say that I’m hoping things go well for both sides, truly. But, while Trump’s “crazy man” gambit may pay off, this commentary is about what Trump,...
Read More
June 11, 2018
Featured image for “When is an Apology an Apology?”
When is an Apology an Apology?
On Tuesday’s Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Bill Clinton tried to explain his fumbled apology to Monica Lewinsky in response to a question by an NBC reporter the previous day. Colbert offers Clinton a “do-over.” “Here’s what I want to say: It wasn’t my finest hour, but the important thing is, that was a very painful thing, 20 years ago,...
Read More
June 8, 2018